Dubai Airport

Travelling through Dubai Airport is in my opinion one of the worst experiences of my life. Long aircraft taxi (10 mins+) followed by a long bus ride to the terminal from what feels like the other end of Dubai long queues extremely unfriendly and arrogant staff and a "shopping mall" departure lounge with too few chairs for passengers. My main gripe however is with the security personnel. I have travelled through numerous airports with my laptop bag including Dubai only the week before. On this occasion I was stopped because my laptop bag had a security cable lock packed in the bag. This was confiscated off me because it was deemed to be dangerous. The security personnel left me feeling like a criminal and wondering if I was going to be chucked into jail for this offence. I have travelled through a number of airports with the same device and have never had it questioned as something that is prohibited onboard as hand luggage. I have also done an extensive search on the internet and did not find one single site where this device has been flagged as prohibited. This is one airport (and Emirates as the airline) that I will be avoiding at all costs from now on.

Terminal 1. Arriving from Doha on Qatar Airways at 21.00. Aircraft parked on a remote stand bus took us right to the immigration centre - we didn't have to walk long distances. Immigration busy about 20 desks open and maybe 10 people in each queue but the process was relatively efficient - waited 10-15 minutes. By the time I arrived at luggage reclaim by bag was there. Departure - at the airport at 04.30 for a 06.00 departure. Already checked in online and no queue at Qatar desk. Formalities efficient and a long walk via travelators underground to the departure area. I used the duty free shop - typical choice and prices. I didn't use any other facilities at the airport so I cant comment. Plenty of places to sit and wait.

The new T3 is a huge disappoinment. Handling of transfer passengers (big business in DXB!) is awful - the design of the airport just doesn't work at all in this respect. Nowhere near enough toilets - queues even for the gents! Poor signage. Need to get from T3 to T1? Make sure you pack your gym kit. Long walk and not too many travelators to help you. Immigration staff are much slower compared with any other place I have visited. Why put these locals there when they are not prepared to work! Using Emirates our aircraft was still parked miles away from the terminal for which we had to take a long bus journey to terminal. All glitz and glamour as is always the case with Dubai but no substance. First world on the surface third world thinking underneath.

Terminal 3 is a chaotic situation due to lack of signage and efficient staff at help desks. Usually help desk staff is disappearing. Situation gets even worse during short transit. A floor plan displayed various location may help passengers to locate themselves and fine their way to appropriate gates.

I transited at DXB twice over the last two months. Every time I was arriving on an Emirates flight and connecting to another carrier's flight (or opposite). The two biggest problems I experienced were a lack of a quick commuting transit system (like the mono rail at HK airport) which allowed me to cross different terminals quickly. Most of the transit desks were not operating and I needed to walk through all to see which one was available. On one occasion I arrived 1.5 hr before my connecting flight was scheduled to depart but the bus journey from parking bay to terminal took me 20min then I had to clear security and walk from T3 to T1 for transit which took me another 20 min. When I arrived at the transit desk at T1 check-in was close and I had to wait for the next flight (another 5 hr wait). This was not a pleasant experience.

Agree with many previous comments. Before T3 was opened Emirates were promising that it would solve all the problems of overcrowding at T1. However this has not proved correct. T3 has been poorly planned particularly as far as facilities are concerned. Nowhere near enough toilets or seats provided and the "open plan" Business lounge is awful and impersonal. If I had a long lay over I would be sorely tempted to head back over to T1. It's also worth noting that EK flights are still regularly landing miles away from the terminal and passengers are still having to be bussed which is a real pain. Whoever was responsible for this hugely disappointing building should not be given similar responsibility again!

We arrived from FRA then connecting flight to KUL with Emirates (economy). In our opinion Terminal 3 is a mistake. I will be repeating myself with other reviewers. T3 is awfully overcrowded. Basic needs like sufficient number of clean toilets or seating places are not satisfied at all. You have to queue everywhere. We will avoid travelling with Emirates via Dubai at any price. I would recommend the same.

Transiting from the UK back to Australia with Emirates we taxied to a remote stand and were bussed into the terminal. Then escalators up two floors down one floor and then up 3 floors seemed crazy to get into a very busy and packed shopping mall. Dubai Duty Free is no more value than any other duty free. Toilets were small tight overcrowded and disgracefully dirty. Adding to that a lack of seating anywhere near a non-open gate (perhaps 100 seats for an A380 departure). Air conditioning set on freezing did not help either. Not impressed.

Terminal 3 is a new structure. The inbound passport control area is very big. I arrived from Istanbul at 12:40 am. There were 14 people in front of me at the waiting line at the inbound passport control. It took 50minutes to go through the passport. The passport police is extremely slow. On my way back from Cape Town I had to spend 7 hours for my connecting flight to Istanbul. I had to use the toilets 2 times. The toilets are very small there is always a queue. The mens toilets are also very badly used by passengers floors are flooded by people who do know how to use the toilet sprays. I prefer not to use this airport again.

Terminal 1. On arrival there was a long long walk to passport control and customs both of which were efficient. On departure check-in was efficient with no lines as was passport control and security. DCA lounge was bland with limited food and drink selections but was quiet. Duty-free was disappointing with limited selections.